Avalanche: Cardiff Fork

This was reported to the UAC by a member of the party. On Saturday afternoon, a skier dropped in on a steep, east-facing slope off of Power Line Ridge in Cardiff Fork and triggered a sluff up to 2' deep that ran 100' vertical, stopping when the slide reached the lower-angled slope below. The skier reported being surprised by the sluff and how much snow it entrained and that they were unable to ski out of the moving snow. They also mentioned the top 2' of the snowpack was all loose, faceted snow.

With very weak snow at the surface on many mid and upper-elevation slopes, these types of sluffs are likely on steep slopes. Although the sluffs are shallow and not propagating widely, they can be consequential if a rider is carried into trees or over a cliffband.